Dear friends,
Hope you are all doing well. This past week the weather had been, and is still now, very bad for us with freezing and black ice. But still, we are surviving it. Keep watch when you move about anywhere.
These past few days there had been much on the media about the escape of the kidnapped girl Jayme Closs. She had been in captivity for almost three months. After so many days, she managed to escape when the kidnapper was not at home. Everyone who knows about this event is very happy and media throws more light on this incident. While we are happy about this escape and as we admire her resilience and courage, there is something we need to learn and reflect upon.
I just wanted to see how many would have been lost in our state alone. This number is up to seventy-six which traces back to a long period of time (https://www.missingpersons.doj.wi.gov/wisconsin-missing-persons). There may be different cases of missing with variety of reasons. Some might have run away, some might have been missed in some bad weather or some natural disaster, some might have disappeared due to their poor mental condition, or some might have committed suicide without the knowledge of any house hold members, or some might have escaped the worse situations at home. Whatever the reason, the people are missing and there are people who still believe that they can trace them and find them at some point of time in the future.
I want to reflect about people who were kidnapped. Why does this happen? Why does someone ever think of kidnapping someone? I, among many reasons, would like to point out two things. One is the all-pervasive media and the other thing is the formation of conscience.
The media, as I mentioned above is all pervasive. It enters everywhere, even where air can not enter. It carries with it an illusionary world. It entices the mind of the people with a world of illusion where everything is fine and funny. So, the mind comes to a point when it thinks that whatever pleases me to do is fine and it is in no way wrong. So, they act as their mind pleases and they most often end up doing something wrong and uncharitable. Now that the world has shrunk to the size of the palm of a hand, it is easy to get enticed very easily. In this situation, we need to be more and more cautious and prudent, failing which we will be misled even while we are thinking that we are okay. This caution and prudence will help us in differentiating between what is right and what is not.
The other thing I would like to focus on is the formation of conscience. At this modern age and with social condition that is in existence today, the true formation of the conscience is really hard. But we can not just let things go as they would, just because it is hard. First of all, we should try to create a mind that cares for others and senses the feeling of other people. Only when we could instill this care and concern for others, we would be forming a better conscience. Otherwise we will only be growing a bunch of flesh which can not even be called a human being, though outwardly it has the form of one. And much more, as we are Christians, we have the added responsibility in the formation of a good conscience of this present generation. Our religion, with the teachings of Christ and the Magisterium and Christian tradition has given us a lot of insights and wisdom as to how to form a good conscience. We need to take them to the heart and follow the along with teaching them to our children who are the future generation.
Yours sincerely in Christ Jesus,
Fr. A. Antony
Hope you are all doing well. This past week the weather had been, and is still now, very bad for us with freezing and black ice. But still, we are surviving it. Keep watch when you move about anywhere.
These past few days there had been much on the media about the escape of the kidnapped girl Jayme Closs. She had been in captivity for almost three months. After so many days, she managed to escape when the kidnapper was not at home. Everyone who knows about this event is very happy and media throws more light on this incident. While we are happy about this escape and as we admire her resilience and courage, there is something we need to learn and reflect upon.
I just wanted to see how many would have been lost in our state alone. This number is up to seventy-six which traces back to a long period of time (https://www.missingpersons.doj.wi.gov/wisconsin-missing-persons). There may be different cases of missing with variety of reasons. Some might have run away, some might have been missed in some bad weather or some natural disaster, some might have disappeared due to their poor mental condition, or some might have committed suicide without the knowledge of any house hold members, or some might have escaped the worse situations at home. Whatever the reason, the people are missing and there are people who still believe that they can trace them and find them at some point of time in the future.
I want to reflect about people who were kidnapped. Why does this happen? Why does someone ever think of kidnapping someone? I, among many reasons, would like to point out two things. One is the all-pervasive media and the other thing is the formation of conscience.
The media, as I mentioned above is all pervasive. It enters everywhere, even where air can not enter. It carries with it an illusionary world. It entices the mind of the people with a world of illusion where everything is fine and funny. So, the mind comes to a point when it thinks that whatever pleases me to do is fine and it is in no way wrong. So, they act as their mind pleases and they most often end up doing something wrong and uncharitable. Now that the world has shrunk to the size of the palm of a hand, it is easy to get enticed very easily. In this situation, we need to be more and more cautious and prudent, failing which we will be misled even while we are thinking that we are okay. This caution and prudence will help us in differentiating between what is right and what is not.
The other thing I would like to focus on is the formation of conscience. At this modern age and with social condition that is in existence today, the true formation of the conscience is really hard. But we can not just let things go as they would, just because it is hard. First of all, we should try to create a mind that cares for others and senses the feeling of other people. Only when we could instill this care and concern for others, we would be forming a better conscience. Otherwise we will only be growing a bunch of flesh which can not even be called a human being, though outwardly it has the form of one. And much more, as we are Christians, we have the added responsibility in the formation of a good conscience of this present generation. Our religion, with the teachings of Christ and the Magisterium and Christian tradition has given us a lot of insights and wisdom as to how to form a good conscience. We need to take them to the heart and follow the along with teaching them to our children who are the future generation.
Yours sincerely in Christ Jesus,
Fr. A. Antony
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